The overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have long acknowledged the need for a bank that specifically caters to OFWs' needs.

To this end OFWs around the globe took initial steps a few years ago to form one. At this writing, the OFW-initiated OFWBANK through its parent foundation with offices in Manila is expecting its final documents from the Philippines Securities & Exchange Commission.

It should be noted that H. E., Patricia Santo Tomas, Secretary, Department of Labor and Employment, the governmental branch under which the Overseas Worker Welfare Administration (OWWA) operates, is fully aware of this particular bank project. The OFWs assumed that the good Secretary was fully supportive of this endeavor.

Instead, on March 31, 2006, newspapers trumpeted that "President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo disclosed yesterday that the Cabinet has approved the conversion of the Philippine Postal Bank into the Overseas Filipino Workers Bank to give OFWs an alternative channel for remitting their dollar earnings to their families back home at lower services fees."

It went on: "As approved during the Cabinet meeting Tuesday upon recommendation of Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will infuse a P1 billion equity into the Postal Bank, which is now owned by the Philippine Postal Corp."

At no time during the preparatory period to this press release did Secretary Santo Tomas or the office of the President of the Philippines extend an invitation to the people who own the funds that they have so generously offered to infuse into the PPB, to become involved in the decision-making: the OFWs.

On February 2, 2003, "A CALL TO ACTION FOR OWWA TRANSPARENCY and RESTRUCTURING" from The Overseas Filipinos was sent to the Office of the President, members of the house of representatives and the senate, Secretary Santo Tomas and officers of the OWWA.

On December 8, 2003: "An Open Letter to Hon. Virgilio Angelo, OWWA Administrator, and Hon. Patricia A. Sto. Tomas, OWWA Board Chairperson and DOLE Secretary regarding the Call to Action for OWWA Transparency and Restructuring as released on 2 February 2003."

Both letters are reproduced below.* Names of 1,407 original signatories are available on request.

Approximately three years later the OFWs are asking for the same things from OWWA: restructuring, good governance, transparency, and accountability.

Three long years later we are still asking for OWWA to make public its annual year-end report and financial highlights for the last years. It is noted at this point that its website is "under construction." The contentious issues enumerated in those letters still demand to be addressed.

OFWs are of the opinion that OWWA funds should be administered by representatives of the OFW organizations. Movement of OWWA funds should not be at the whim of the administration's cabinet, who frequently refer to the Filipino Diaspora as "the modern-day heroes" but does not give these same "heroes" the courtesy of any input in the decision-making process regarding their funds.

The proposed OFWBank initiated by OFWs a few year ago will be fully-owned by the OFWs. The projected profits will be owned by the bank's owners/members. Administration of its funds regarding investments and projects will be decided by OFWs.

The government's press release took the altruistic stand that the administration is making this move for the good of the OFWs. The OFWs, therefore, expect the government to support and facilitate the finalization of the OFW-initiated OFWBank -rather than a renamed PPB- so that it can start operation with a clean slate as soon as possible.

If the administration, however, would rather see the projected profits go into the government's many pockets, then it is understandable that it would railroad the re-routing of funds to a bank that it can control, and it would effectively belie its very public claim that it is infusing P1Billion of OWWA funds into PPB for the OFWs' benefit.

We, the undersigned, strongly protest this newest move to exclude the opinion of overseas Filipinos in the disposition of OWWA funds.

We urge the Administration and the Department of Labor & Employment Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas to give the country's "modern-day heroes" long overdue respect by giving them the choice, and a voice in the formation, of their own bank which will bear a name uniquely their own: OFWBANK.

An Open Letter to Hon. Virgilio Angelo, OWWA Administrator, andHon. Patricia A. Sto. Tomas, OWWA Board Chairperson and DOLE Secretaryregarding the Call to Action for OWWA Transparency and Restructuringas released on 2 February 2003:

Dear Hon. Sec. Sto. Tomas and Hon. Admin. Angelo,

Greetings!

On February 2, 2003, the "Call to Action for OWWA Transparency andRestructuring" statement, which was the culmination of discussions in thevarious OFW e-groups that started months earlier, was released along withthe names of its 1,433 supporters around the globe. The statement was sentto your offices via e mail, with copies to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyoin Malacaсang, the POEA, Senators, House Representatives, the PhilippineEmbassy and POLO-OWWA in Riyadh, columnists and reporters of majornewspapers, and various e-groups.

We were disheartened, to say the least, that we never received a specificreply to this statement from your offices and the other government officialsand legislators (except from Hon. Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr.). But wewill not continue to be discouraged. We hope that this time we will beheard.

We have reviewed the current OWWA website and we are pleased to find theOWWA Year-End Report and Financial Highlights for 2002. However, the reportsstill come short of our request for a more comprehensive and fully auditedfinancial and performance statements not only for 2002 but also for previousyears.

The open letter of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to OFWs, dated 10January 2003, which was distributed during a community meeting at thePhilippine Embassy in Riyadh last February, also states that the Presidenthas "instructed Administrator Virgilio Angelo, the new OWWA Administrator,to publish the financial statement of assets and liabilities of OWWA for thelast two years (underscoring supplied)."

Going as far back as 1983, even the controversial issue of the P200-millioninvestment in Landoil Resources and Greater Manila Land Corporation remainsunresolved - a sore reminder that must find closure.

We are also interested to know if the lopsided priorities in theexpenditures for direct benefits versus operating costs have already beenrectified during the first half of this year, 2003. We hope that financialand management reports for the previous years are forthcoming and we urgethat future ones be posted at least biennially.

Since there are so many other OFW-related issues that we wish to discusswith your good office, including the demands listed in the Call to Actionstatement, we would like to propose a regular dialogue that is similar butnot limited to the Consultative Council on OFWs.

We believe that an open networking with the many OFW organizations aroundthe world and home-based NGOs and other groups thru a series of informal andformal discussions will help in reaching a consensus on contentious issuessuch as the mandatory payment of the OWWA membership fee. We believe thatthis is also one step in democratizing the status of the OWWA, which is a"self-sustaining government agency" that is supported wholly by themembership fees of OFWs.

To help us further appreciate and study the achievements of OWWA in the pastyear, we also would like to request that the following be posted in the OWWAwebsite: Report on First National Conference on OFW Reintegration, April2002; and the concept papers on Provident Fund for OFWs, ReformulatedCommunity Organizing Program, OWWA PDOS, Education Support AssistanceProgram, and the Comprehensive OFW Reintegration Program.

We also would like to state our full support to the Scrap OWWA OmnibusPolicies (ScOOP) Coalition, groups and other individuals whose demands, suchas the immediate scrapping of the Omnibus Policies; transparency,accountability, public management, and financial audit of the OWWA fund;more OFW representation in the OWWA board; transparent, participatory anddemocratic selection of OWWA board members; are in agreement with our Callto Action statement.

----- Original Message -----From: Overseas Filipino WorkersSubject: A CALL TO ACTION FOR OWWA TRANSPARENCY and RESTRUCTURING

*February 2, 2003

To Our Esteemed Leaders and Government Officials:

Greetings! We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thankeveryone who has championed the cause of the Absentee Voting Bill (AVB) andworked diligently towards its eventual passage. Maraming maraming salamat posa inyong lahat!

We pray that the AVB will pave the way for the further empowerment ofoverseas Filipinos in choosing leaders who will be truly committed to thecause of Good Governance, Transparency and Accountability.

Just as you continue to hear our grievances and work towards theirresolution, as duty vested in your office, we are seeking your support instudying and uplifting the plight of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and, inparticular, in evaluating the functions, services and finances of theOverseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and other related agencies.

Two months ago, we started the initially egroups-based Call to Action forOWWA Transparency and Restructuring. We now humbly present to you ourstatement and demands and the initial list of supporters.

We actively monitor any developments related to the petition. On Jan. 6,news came out from the Bulletin Today that "the controversial investments ofthe Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on the Smokey MountainDevelopment and Reclamation Project (SMPPCs) has finally been settled...TheHome Guarantee Corporation (HGC) agreed to pay OWWA P500 million in cash intwo tranches on Jan. 6 and 31, 2003, while the rest of the balance of theP1.07 billion settlement will be in the form of Debenture Bonds."

While we welcome this development with guarded optimism, the P200 millioninvested in 1983 to Landoil Resources and Greater Manila Land Corporation(GMLC) has not yet been repaid. Among our demands is for the OWWA to publishregular audited accounting reports in its website.

We challenge your good office to take time to study our pleas and work fortheir fruition.

We will continue the campaign as long as necessary.

Thank you for your time and support.

very sincerely yours,Overseas Filipino Workers

A CALL TO ACTION FOR OWWA TRANSPARENCY and RESTRUCTURING

WE, the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) and our supporters, demand that theOverseas Workers and Welfare Administration (OWWA) submit itself to a fullpublic management and accounting audit without delay, not only forcollections and expenditures for year 2001 but also for previous years.

While millions of pesos continue to be collected from vacationing OFWs andfirst-timers, six (6) months have already passed and reports on the allegedmisuse of funds have remained unresolved and services in areas of deploymentare affected. A preliminary report on this has already been submitted by theSecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on May 23, 2002to the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission but we have yet to hear of anyresults. Senate and House Resolutions have also been introduced to look intothe OWWA fund utilization but these have yet to be followed up.

We strongly believe that the restructuring of OWWA fund management andutilization towards improvement of services and greater OFW and civilsociety representation should be considered as urgent legislative agenda.The issue of whether the $25 OWWA membership fee is mandatory or voluntaryand whether it is a trust fund or not should also be addressed.

We also urge our legislators to transcend political affiliations andloyalties and pursue with diligence and committment the Senate and HouseResolutions on the OWWA fund.*

The controversial investments, going as far back as 1983 with theP200-million advanced to Landoil Resources (majority owned by Speaker Josede Venecia) and Greater Manila Land Corporation, were done without theapproval of the board of trustees. More recently, in 1995, some P500 millionin investments were made to the Smokey Mountain Reclamation and DevelopmentProject (SMRDP) certificates. Accumulated interest and principal of theseinvestments reportedly remain uncollected to this date.

Considering the huge amounts involved in the Landoil and SMRDP investments,we find former Administrators Wilhelm Soriano and David Corpin's decisionswithout the board's approval, while invoking Memorandum of Instruction 008issued in 1986 to cover such actions, as the height of imprudence.

Then OWWA Administrator Wilhelm Soriano said that he has the "bindingauthority as to where to invest the OWWA Fund, including how and how much."http://www.inq7.net/nwsbrk/2002/jun/10/nbk_3-1.htm But the same articlepointed out that "the lack of due diligence in evaluating investments isglaring. The superficial evaluation conducted by OWWA's Acquired Assets andInvestments Unit for the SMRDP investment was not an isolated case...theP500 million invested in SMRDP constituted a whopping 45 percent of theOWWA's capital funds at the time, something that would have raised eyebrowsamong professional fund managers."

The DOLE Committee report argued that the Presidential Decrees 1694 and 1809are "the clear mandate that financial transactions as far as the workersmoney is concerned, were subject to the rules and regulations of the Boardof Trustees." PD 1809, issued in 1981, provides that all "transactions inthe Welfund (workers welfare fund) shall be subject to such rules andregulations as may be formulated by its Board of Trustees."

The report also said that the "MOI 008, issued by Administrator SalvadorBigay, mentions that the Capital Fund shall be administered and controlledthrough the Office of the Administrator. Even this MOI however does notdeviate from what the PDs require as the administration and control is onlythrough, and not by, the Office of the Administrator, and the investmentshall still be within the guidelines set by the management."http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2002/may/25/top_stories/20020525top2.html

"As authorized under PD 1809 which amended PD 1694, the OWWA board, as amatter of policy, requires that Soriano should utilize not more than 50percent of the agency's investment income of the previous year provided thata forced savings equivalent to 20 percent is imposed. On programs budget,the law has a restrictive provision where Soriano is not allowed to use morethan 60 percent of the funds from the workers' contribution and membershipfees. Who allowed him to utilize up to 134 percent of the funds foroperations could hardly be accuser Sto. Tomas. What makes Malacaсanghesitant to open up the big can of worms is a valid administrative questionthe Labor chief should pursue."http://www.tribune.net.ph/20020520/commentary/20020520.com_focus.html

A study of OWWA's expenses also shows its lopsided priorities. "From 1998 to2001, OWWA's expenses averaged 86 percent of its total income for theprevious year. In 1998 and 2002, expenses actually exceeded the previousyear's income. The 2001 figures show P636, 588,140 in expenditures. Of thistotal, only P143,596,722, or 22.5 percent, was spent on benefits for OWWAcontributors. The balance went to operating expenses, mostly salaries. Ofthe proposed P883 million budget for 2002, only P287 million, or 32.5percent, will go to benefits, while the balance will be used foroperations."http://www.inq7.net/nwsbrk/2002/jun/10/nbk_3-1.htm

Also, during a campaign by the United Filipinos in Hong Kong in 1996, theypresented a pie chart which showed that only 11\% of the $25 membership feeactually goes to direct benefits for OFWs such as insurance claims, burialassistance, disability, welfare assistance, etc., while the rest of theamount goes to the overseas allowances of OWWA and DOLE in variouscountries, service delivery costs, rentals of office space, etc. [From OWWAPie Chart, United Filipinos (UNIFIL) in Hong Kong; and the Migrant's FocusMagazine: Issue #2 "A Feast in Government Fees"; provided by the AsiaPacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos]

In the light of the aforementioned, we therefore demand the following:

1. Immediately implement the US$25 as voluntary OWWA membership fee.

The original vision that the OWWA contribution must come from employers, assupposedly mandated by law, is already lost, especially for the BalikManggagawa or returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) with renewedcontracts. Although there are agencies that make sure that this fee isshouldered by employers and will not be deducted from the workers, this isusually only true for new OFWs. Compliance is difficult, if not totallynon-existent, from employers of returning OFWs.

2. Resume the investigations on the alleged OWWA fund mess, specifically onthe investments made in Landoil and SMRDP, and perform a full publicmanagement and accounting audit. If it has nothing to hide from the past,then OWWA should submit itself to a full and unhampered investigation.Appropriate administrative sanctions or charges should be placed onofficials who erred.

3. Expose those who may wish to obstruct any investigation and charge themappropriately in courts.

4. Release the official audited reports on OWWA fund collections andexpenditures for 2001 and previous years and publish these in an officialwebsite.

5. Restructure the OWWA and study how the welfare fund could be transformedfor better services to members.

6. Review the OWWA administrative guidelines and provide a reasonable andspecific cap on expenditures. Increase funding for direct benefits tomembers, which may come in the form of a provident fund.

7. Evaluate the history and functions of the different agencies that areinvolved in the welfare and protection of OFWs and determine if they arereally responsive to the needs of the Filipino workers.

8. Craft laws that will provide greater OFW and civil society representationin policy-making bodies related to OFW concerns. In particular, establish aclear, democratic and transparent criteria for the selection of the OWWAboard and administrator, with more OFW representation in the board.

We have not forgotten the OFWs and their families who have benefited fromOWWA assistance, such as for accidents and burials, but any assistance thatOWWA has rendered in the past or any of its achievements should not be usedto gloss over any irregularities in rendering of other services or themisuse of the funds.

We appeal to our kababayan who are employed in OWWA to understand ourdemands as not a personal attack on their livelihood and future but anecessary step to improve the services to OFW members, especially those whoare in distress, and to protect from misuse the resources that we havecontributed for OWWA's existence in the first place.

We look forward to the new OWWA Administrator Virgilio Angelo to rise to thechallenge of addressing the above-mentioned demands.

We also urge the government to review its mandate as expressed in Article V,Section 8 of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995(RA8042), that "All fees for services being charged by any government officeon migrant workers as of June 7, 1995 shall not be increased. All otherservices rendered by the DOLE and other government agencies in connectionwith the recruitment, introduction and placement of any assistance tomigrant workers shall be rendered free."

The paramount role of the state is to ensure protection and the well beingof its citizens, wherever they are.

We are calling on all concerned kababayan, egroups, NGOs, governmentofficials and legislators to act together for the welfare of all OFWs aroundthe world.

THE TIME TO ACT TOGETHER IS NOW!

* Senate Resolutions:

Senate Resolution No. 59, introduced by Senator Ramon MAGSAYSAY JR., 23 July2001, entitled:"RESOLUTION URGING THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, THECONGRESSIONAL COMMISSION ON LABOR AND OTHER APPROPRIATE COMMITTEE/S TOCONDUCT AN INQUIRY, IN AID OF LEGISLATION, ANENT THE BUDGET UTILIZATION OFTHE OVERSEAS WORKERS' WELFARE ADMINISTRATION (OWWA) IN THE LIGHT OF THENUMEROUS COMPLAINTS LODGED BY OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS CITING OWWA'S LACKOF NECESSARY ASSISTANCE AND SLOW MOVING DELIVERY OF SERVICES WITH THE END INVIEW OF FORMULATING REMEDIAL MEASURES TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE AND FOR OTHERPURPOSES"http://www.senate.gov.ph/bills_res/ibmon/srn-59.htm

Senate Resolution No. 330, introduced by Senator Edgardo ANGARA, 17September 2002"...seeks the creation of a Senate ad hoc committee on government trustfunds. The resolution states that the government trust funds, specially thereported mismanagement of OWWA's multi-billion-peso trust fund, should belooked into so that reforms in the handling and management of the funds canbe put in place."http://www.silangan-shimbun.jp/Sept_update/update5_09182002.htmhttp://www.manilatimes.net/national/2002/sept/18/top_stories/20020918top11.html

www.owwa.gov.ph/sothe.htmlSO THE PUBLIC MAY KNOW"A clarification on the issues raised against the Overseas Workers WelfareFund being administered by OWWA in headlines of the Manila Times and DailyTribune on May 15 2002 and subsequent print and broadcast media releases."

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